The present invention relates to a new and improved appliance boom, and more particularly, to a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and detached to a conventional tractor utilized and stored when not in use.
Small building contractors and farmers usually have a variety of tractors or other machinery in their possession. Both farmers and contractors need to accomplish a variety tasks in their chosen occupations. Contractors for example must move heavy equipment or supplies from one location to another or move dirt around as in back filling around building foundations or bulldozing, trenching, or the like. Whereas farmers besides normal planting, herbicide spraying and cultivating operations, often need to do light bulldozing, lay drainage pipes, trim trees or other tasks.
Both farmers and building contractors, generally have a number of tractors, harvesters, bulldozers, and the like around. Neither can afford to have any of these machines idle for long periods of time in the competitive markets in which both contractors and farmers operate. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be quickly attached and detached from conventional machinery to make that machinery more versatile and stored when not in use.
Most small contractors and farmers have in their possession what is commonly known as a bucket loader or a front end loader although bucket loaders can be found both on the front end and the rear end of a variety of tractor types. Bucket loaders are usually considered dirt moving equipment such as bulldozers but are distinguished from bulldozers inasmuch as bucket loaders have a bucket rather than a blade. Thus, the bucket loader is a cross between a bulldozer and a power shovel. The bucket loaders to which we refer have a large open bucket mounted to a tractor body in front or to the rear of a cab on a pair of lifting arms capable of raising the bucket from a position below ground level to an elevated position higher than the cab, and sometimes approximately over the cab. In addition, the bucket is mounted so that it can be tilted forward in order to dig its front edge or cutting edge into a pile of gravel or soil and to dump its load into a dump truck, and backward into a carrying position so that it can be raised to the height of a dump truck, and then tilted again forward from its carrying position to deposit its load into a truck.
Bucket loaders have several applications such as light bulldozing or backfilling, lifting heavy objects from one place to another, and a number of other common tasks around farm and construction sites. The term bucket loader herein will refer to all types of such equipment which have buckets mounted on a pair of lifting arms capable of raising the bucket from a position below ground to an elevated position over the cab and to rotate the bucket from a dumping position in which the bucket opening is facing the ground to a carrying position in which the bucket opening is facing upwardly. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom for bucket loaders to increase their versatility and to give bucket loaders new and improved usefulness.
Bucket loaders, in the past have been modified to mount or carry boom members or cranes for special lifting applications. Such members however, have been cumbersome to utilize. Some require the dismounting of the bucket from the lift arms of the bucket holder so as to mount the boom on the lift arms. Others have required extensive modifications to the bucket loader in order to mount the boom. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom for mounting on a conventional bucket loader which is convenient to use. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can easily be mounted and dismounted from a conventional bucket loader. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom that can carry a number of useful appliances at its distal end to increase the versatility of a conventional bucket loader.
The versatility of a conventional bucket loader may be widely expanded by converting the bucket loader into a crane by attaching to bucket of the bucket loader an appliance boom having at its distal end a pulley and a cable trained through the pulley to a winch. While it is well known that such an attachment will expand the usefulness of a bucket loader, past attempts to mount or carry boom members or cranes on bucket loaders have been not convenient to use. Crane attachments in the past have required time consuming installation procedures and little or no provision for detaching and storing the crane when it is not in use. Examples of such usage of such prior boom attachments to bucket loaders and other equipment are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,092,259; 4,200,423; 3,249,245; 3,587,887. Therefore it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom for convenient attachment and detachment to a conventional bucket loader and storage of the boom when not in use.
The versatility of bucket loaders may also be greatly expanded. Landscape contractors, for example, and farmers are often concerned about trimming trees in remote and hard to get to places. In the past, most tree trimming along right in ways has been done with trucks with limited off road mobility having a boom which carries at its end a gondola or a cherry picker. The gondola is positioned adjacent to the tree line and a man in the gondola or cherry picker utilizes a chain saw to sever the branches and limbs of the trees along the tree line. This procedure is relatively expensive, time consuming and may be dangerous to the operator of the vehicle as well as to the operator of the chain saw.
Even more dangerous is a practice utilized by farmers where the tree line is off road in rough country where cherry pickers can not travel. Farmers have been known to utilize bucket loaders to trim hedge rows between fields by having one person standing in the bucket of a bucket loader and having another person operate the tractor to position the tractor and to lift the bucket above the tractor cab such that the person in the bucket can trim the trees with a chain saw. The inherent danger to the farmer in the bucket with the chainsaw and/or the likelihood of dropping limbs on the farmer in the tractor is obvious. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached to the bucket of a bucket loader and utilized to operate a wide range of appliances at the distal end thereof from the ground. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached to the bucket of a bucket loader and operated remotely from the cab of the bucket loader single handedly. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached to the bucket of a conventional bucket loader to allow appliances such as chainsaws, reciprocating saws, drills, scissors or shears, any other reciprocating or rotary or pivotal power machinery, and cameras to be operated remotely from the cab single handedly.
Both in the construction industry and farming, equipment cost is a major factor. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached from a conventional bucket loader and stored when not in use which gives to the bucket loader new versatility and usefulness in the construction and farming industries which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached from a conventional bucket loader and stored when not in use which gives to the bucket loader new versatility and usefulness in the construction and farming industries which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use.
Other booms attached to vehicles whether they are bucket loaders or other tractor like vehicles have always posed a problem in being transported from one location to another. Larger cranes and shovels are usually transported on flat bed trucks. However, tractors are usually moved from one location to another down roads and over highways. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which when attached to a vehicle may be transported from one location to another over the road. State laws require vehicles passing over roads to have dimensions less than certain maximum dimensions. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which when attached to a vehicle for traveling over the roads has dimensions which are less than the maximum dimensions prescribed by laws.
It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be attached to conventional bucket loader and which is moveable from an extended condition in which it is useful to a collapsed condition which has dimensions less than those prescribed by law for over the road travel.
Finally it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved appliance boom having all of the features above mentioned.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be quickly attached and detached from conventional machinery to make that machinery more versatile and stored when not in use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom for bucket loaders to increase their versatility and to give bucket loaders new and improved usefulness.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom for mounting on a conventional bucket loader which is convenient to use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can easily be mounted and dismounted from a conventional bucket loader.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom that can carry a number of useful appliances at its distal end to increase the versatility of a conventional bucket loader.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom for convenient attachment and detachment to a conventional bucket loader and storage of the boom when not in use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached to the bucket of a bucket loader and utilized to operate a wide range of appliances at the distal end thereof from the ground.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached to the bucket of a bucket loader and operated remotely from the cab of the bucket loader single handedly.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached to the bucket of a conventional bucket loader to allow appliances such as chainsaws, reciprocating saws, drills, scissors or shears, or any other reciprocating or rotary or pivotal power machinery, and cameras to be operated remotely from the cab single handedly.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached from a conventional bucket loader and stored when not in use which gives to the bucket loader new versatility and usefulness in the construction and farming industries which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be readily attached and unattached from a conventional bucket loader and stored when not in use which gives to the bucket loader new versatility and usefulness in the construction and farming industries which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which when attached to a vehicle may be transported from one location to another over the road.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which when attached to a vehicle for traveling over the roads has dimensions which are less than the maximum dimensions prescribed by laws.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom which can be attached to conventional bucket loader and which is moveable from an extended condition in which it is useful to a collapsed condition which has dimensions less than those prescribed by law for over the road travel.
It is finally an object of the invention to provide a new and improved appliance boom having all of the features above mentioned.
In the broader aspects there is provided a new and improved appliance boom having opposite ends. One of the ends is adapted to be secured to the bucket of an articulated powered bucket loader. The other end is adapted to be secured to an appliance. The boom has means for guiding appliance control cables from end to end. At least one control cable having opposite ends is trained through the means. One of the control cable ends is attached to the appliance, the other of the control cable ends is attached to a control in the cab of the bucket loader to which the boom is attached. The appliance cradle may be secured to appliances ranging from crane pulleys, chain saws, rotary drills, reciprocating saws, to other rotary or reciprocating appliances. The appliance boom may be secured to the bucket of a conventional bucket loader and unattached conveniently and stored when not in use.